Well, LTS, you may agree or you may not, but a main rationale of fox hunting has always been to reduce the depredations of foxes on the production of chicken, eggs and ducks and so on.The abolition of hunting was merely carried out so that this control could be done with cyanide, so much nicer of course.
Disentangling the practical functions of hunting from its fun(?)/social/cultural aspects has always been complex.